The Holm Group Real Estate Blog

Below you will find a number of articles that we have written over the past few years for your review. In addition to these articles please feel free to go to our blog page as you will find additional articles and up to date community information there as well.

Potential homebuyers value few things more than the security of the house, and that’s why thoughtful upgrades that bolster home security can not only increase the value of your home but potentially make it sell faster. Proper security and privacy can help negate the effects of nosy neighbors and less-than-ideal neighborhood conditions. People with children looking to buy a new home almost certainly want a home that feels safe and secure.

From smart technology to old-school security systems and low-budget solutions like strategic landscaping, here are some ways to make your for-sale home more attractive.

Smart Total Home Security System

When it comes to boosting the value of your home with security upgrades, bigger and more comprehensive is often better. Total home security systems have come a long way in the past couple of decades, and the best new smart varieties not only provide 24/7 monitoring and alarm capabilities, but they also allow you to arm and disarm and view live (and recorded) video directly from your mobile device. Many home security systems even allow you to link them to other smart home devices such as light bulbs and garage locks.

Locks, Lights, and Cameras

You can choose to secure your home with modern tech or the old-fashioned way. Both could make your home more attractive to potential buyers, but smart features may help a little more. The best smart locks offer a variety of entry methods and feature codes, biometrics, or Bluetooth functions that can be configured remotely on the fly. Smart lighting and cameras are also good, but if you want to save money, some simple outdoor floodlights (there are budget-friendly lights for less than $10) will do the trick.

Plant-Based Security

Not every piece of home security has to be smart — in fact, it doesn’t even have to be electronic. While home security elements can boost the value of your home and possibly make it sell faster, something else may be even better at that: landscaping. Combine the two and you have a real winner. Privacy or security hedging — adding shrubs, trees, or bigger plants around the perimeter of your home — is a solid idea. The cost to hire landscapers for your yard or garden in Scottsdale is $2,141 – $6,429. This means that this security feature could be even more cost-effective than smart tech.

A Good Old-Fashioned Gate

Here’s something that may come as a surprise: “Adding a gate to the front of your property is about more than mere aesthetics — believe it or not, simply adding a gate can boost your home’s value by as much as $50,000 or more,” according to Realty Times.

Gates add curb appeal, privacy, a layer of safety for kids and pets, and yes — mega home security. If you’re looking to make your home really appealing, install a gate that has an automatic function. While manual gates are okay, they won’t add as much value to your home.

Some Timer-Related Trickery

Every homeowner wants to appear to be at home when they’re away. It’s one of the best deterrents to burglars and other potential miscreants. It’s pretty easy to use modern light timers to create this illusion, and it ends up being a fairly inexpensive way to add just one more layer of extra security to your property.

Being able to tout upgraded security measures in a home listing can draw more eyes to your home. Depending on the added security features, they may even be able to make up for some drawbacks. Even if there are no real security concerns in your neighborhood, having new security features in your home will signal to any potential homebuyer that they are buying a modern, updated home that the previous owners (you) truly cared about.

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Every good entrepreneur will tell you that the best way to turn your investment into profit is not to waste money on side projects but to focus on the main goals defined in the business plan. If focus is the keyword in the world of business, then design, and office design in particular, is no different. You need a home office that is designed, decorated, and furnished in such a manner that all the details scream out: work atmosphere! This will act as a counterweight to the dormant and torpid atmosphere inside the home

The best design solution for a home office is minimalism. Its main postulate guarantees that the office will feature only items that are necessary for work and important for you personally, as everything else, including clutter, will have to leave the space of the home office. By being able to focus on the tasks ahead, you will be able to increase productivity over time, so (re)designing a minimalist home office might be the best thing you lately did to improve your business operations.

Clearing the walls

The biggest surfaces inside your house are by far the walls. All that empty space seems alluring to hang different things from them, ranging from diplomas all the way to pictures of your family. We are not stating that these objects do not belong in a home office, quite the contrary, as an image of the loved ones can be a great motivator. However, they do not belong on the wall, as this area is probably already full of post-it notes related to work that are disrupting the homely ambient.

Such vertical chaos, to put it like that, has no place in a home office, so the first step in ushering in minimalist design is to clear the walls. Personal images will have to be placed on the desk or in another room in the house, while everything related to work that needs to be on display should be put on a notice board.

A paperless office space

It should be clear to everyone by now how detrimental for the environment overuse of paper is. This means that you should immediately stop printing e-mails and other documents that already exist in the electronic form. You can even organize a digitalization of old files that can all be scanned, thus becoming easily searchable. In essence, the less paper you have lying around the desk, the better. Since it is only possible to decrease their numbers but not get rid of the paper format altogether, we recommend placing an inbox on the desk and practicing tidiness so no sheet of paper ends up outside the designated area. Any old filing cabinets should be moved downstairs to the basement or to some other location, like storage depo, where they will not get into the way.

A coffee machine for your pleasure

If you thought that a minimalist design only meant throwing stuff out, you were wrong. In minimalism, functionality is the most important goal to achieve but that does not mean that you cannot afford something luxurious here and there. Investing in yourself is extremely important since a smile on your face is priceless early in the morning when you see a hot cup of coffee on the desk. In terms of design, “watering holes,” such as water coolers and coffee machines, act as social hubs in large companies but you can turn your coffee machine into a private oasis of relaxation. In other words, there is no way that Italian designed office coffee machines could not find its way into your kitchen, just a few steps away from the home office. Their sexy outlines and the colors black and silver go well with any design and complement the machines’ main function of making coffee to help you get through another day of working around the clock.

Decluttering the desk

Like we stated in the introduction, decluttering the home office and the entire house is an integral part of minimalist design suited for home office space. However, one area in particular is prone to clutter, so you should start combating this pesky piling up of stuff at the core of the problem. The immediate desk area is highly susceptible to clutter. The desktop is usually full of things you don’t need, so try to understand that a computer monitor, a family picture, and an inbox are more than enough for this location. Everything else should go in drawers which main function is exactly that: keeping possible clutter out of sight. It is, therefore, useful to keep one drawer, possibly the bottom one, empty at all times, so you can chuck all the clutter in it at the end of a long day spent working since you probably lack the time for a proper clean-up.

As you have seen from these guidelines, minimalism will improve both the design of the home office as well as boost your level of satisfaction. If you are organized, focused, and generally happy with your home office, you can do more work for a shorter amount of time.

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Our home is not only our sanctuary it is our statement as well. Thru the decoration of our home, we make a statement about how we feel about the world that surrounds us and our role in it. It is a showcase of our personality and our taste. Glamour in our home can be a display of great taste, courage to follow our dreams, beauty we want to be surrounded with and comfort we want to be pampered in.

1.Colours

When we want to add glamour in our living room, we should start by choosing the right colours. You can’t go wrong here. Any combination of colours is allowed, it depends on your boldness and preferences. One thing is important to remember, and that is that a combination of three colours should be applied in a 60-30-10% ratio. 60 % is the colour that will take over the role of main colour, and two of the other colours are there to stress out the glam of the main colour. Try to combine colours on the paper first, just to see how good they will go together. Main colour should be calm, natural colour like beige, light pink, cream, so it will not distract attention from details that will glam up your room, especially ones that will go to your walls. Second and third colour must be complementary with the first colour and make a bold statement in coloured details, such as window trim and niche. Remember your walls a stage for other items and details that will glam up your room.

2. Furniture

Choosing the right furniture is what it is all about. Consoled tables, sculptured furniture, sofas, chairs, commodes, they are all important parts of glam up your living room. Sculptured furniture like peacock chairs or a nailed trim, rolled arms, rich fabric sofa are a must have. You can also go for bold but exquisite furniture like Relax For Life massage chairs that will not only add to glam of your living room but will also help you feel wonderful after using it. Mirror consoled tables are also a must-have. This can be a piece of furniture with a mirror surface that will both catch the light and add to the sparkle of your room. Don’t forget that glam style is all about sparkle, layers and balance, so try not to overdo it.

3. Decorations

Decorations are key to a successful glamorizing. Decorations are what make more statement than anything else. A woven thing that hangs from your wall (dream catcher, macramé hanging or luxurious rug hanging) is essential. It will stress out the colour of your walls and will be an important eye-catcher in your room. Mercury glass candles, vintage table lamps, glamorous chandeliers as a source of light that will reflect in mirrored furniture. Piles and piles of colourful pillows that sit on sofas and chairs, bring colour and glam to the room. Vases filled with fresh and colourful flowers sitting on coffee tables and lamp stands. Interesting shaped wall mirrors decorated with crystals and golden details. You can never go wrong with such details. These details can stress the furniture they are on or can be an eye catcher detail for something else you want to stress out.

4. Fabrics

Not only the look but the quality of fabrics is what matters. Glamorous materials like silk, plush, velvet are what should be used for details and furniture as well. Faux fur is very usable to glam up the room if it is placed on sofas and chairs as addition to pillows. Animal print is also desirable, whether it is zebra, leopard or tiger pattern. Some pieces of furniture can be coated with animal print materials, but it is better to have a pillow or blanket with that pattern. Metal is a material that is a must-have here. Metal sculptures, table surfaces, commodes, bar tables, all that can be made from metal and reflect light and sparkle around the room. Try to get items with history, as that will add to glam for sure.

5. Rugs

Rugs are often forgotten as items that can add to the glam. Choosing the right rug or carpet can bring that extra something to everything else. If you opted for calm and neutral colours with just a few stressed items, a rug in some bold pattern or bright colour can be the right decision. If you decided to make details like eye-catching items, then a rug with calming effects pattern or neutral, calming colour can be the right choice. You can match it to the colour of your walls or with the colour of a piece of furniture. There is a lot you can do with it.

Adding glam to your living room may turn out to be a fun and pleasant experience. You can let your imagination run free and be as bold as you wish. This style can handle it.